The Dally Tar HeelMonday, May 18, 19925 ,
Brinkley urges graduates
to make America better
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By Winifred Seasc
Slaff Writer
DTHErin Randall
journalist David Brinkley delivers keynote address at 1992 Commencement exercises
The sky was a beautiful Carolina
blue as parents, family members and
friends gathered in Kenan Stadium May
10 to watch 4,200 students earn bach
elors, masters, doctoral and professional
degrees.
Some graduates gulped champagne
while others turned back-flips and
played with beach balls. A few just
shouted with relief.
The speaker for UNC's 190th com
mencement was David Brinkley, an
chor of the ABC-TV news program,
'This Week with David Brinkley."
Brinkley, a Wilmington native, was
inducted into the N.C. Journalism Hall
of Fame in 1989. A 47-year veteran of
broadcast news, Brinkley also authored
a best-selling book, "Washington Goes
to War," published in 1988.
In his remarks, Brinkley alluded to
economic and social problems in the
United States and referred to the nation's
political affairs as "an unholy mess.
"If we can fix our primary weakness,
our politics, ours will remain one of the
great countries of history the most
productive, the most respected,"
Brinkley said.
Despite some problems, America
remains among the world's greatest
nations, Brinkley said, noting "a seri
ous governmental effort to eliminate
"It is a relief to have these four years over, but
I am also anxious. I hope the best is yet to
come.
John Rights
1992 graduate
poverty" and attempts to "integrate
minorities into our mainstream."
The broadcast journalist encouraged
graduates to recognize the nation's ef
forts and to work to make America
better.
"Do that, and years from now when
you come back here to Carolina to see
your own children graduate, they will
be as proud of you as we, your parents,
are proud of you today," Brinkley said.
UNC-system President CD.
Spangler warned parents that their chil
dren would face a difficult time finding
a job. "It is my understanding that only
30 percent of the graduates have a job,"
he said.
While Spangler urged parents and
graduates to be patient, many UNC
students have decided to continue their
quest for higher education, in hopes
that the economy will turn around soon.
Graduate John Rights said he was
considering attending a seminary in the
fall.
"It is a relief to have these four years
over, but I am also anxious," he said. "I
hope the best is yet to come."
The Class of 1992 set several UNC
records; 204 seniors graduated with
honors and 64 students received highest
honors, both all-time highs.
In addition to Brinkley, honorary
degrees were awarded to Civil War
historian Shelby Foote, UNC adjunct
professor of art Sherman Lee, former
Campus Y Director Anne Queen and T.
Franklin Williams, former director of
the National Institute of Aging and a
former UNC faculty member.
For many students, the commence
ment exercises presented an opportu
nity to help make their parents proud.
"It gives my parents a chance to see
me complete something, it is more for
them," said Mark Kleinschmidt, a teach
ing fellow from Goldsboro. "They en
joyed it, so I did too."
Former chancellors recall influx of women, minority students
By Anna Griffin
Associate Editor
Four former chancellors agree that
increasing enrollment and providing
equal opportunities for blacks and
women were the University's biggest
challenges over the past 35 years.
In a historic meeting of UNC adm in
istrators, former Chancellors William
Aycock, J. Carlyle Sitterson.N. Ferebee
Taylor and Christopher Fordham III
took part in a round-table discussion
May 9 as part of commencement week
end. The talk, held in Memorial Hall be
fore an audience of about 200 alumni,
focused on demographic, philosophical
and physical changes at the University
since the late 1950s.
Although the civil rights movement
began before he took over South Build
ing, Sitterson said little had been done
to integrate major Southern universities
such as UNC before the late 1960s.
"In reality, while integration of
schools had been ordered by the Su
preme Court, in this part of the country
not much took place," he said. "The
University was admitting black students,
but not that many came."
Sitterson said that when he took of
fice in 1966, UNC admitted 25 black
students. In 1 972, his final year as chan
cellor, 250 black students gained ad
mission. While Sitterson discussed plans to
encourage more black enrollment, Tay
lor, a 1942 UNC graduate, recalled the
administration's efforts to admit more
women. Taylor, a former New York
lawyer, served as chancellor from 1 972
1980. "It seems surprising in 1992, but for
most of the life of the University, women
occupied the role of second- or third
class citizens," Taylor said. "In the fall
of 1972, females made up 30 percent of
the enrollment. In 1979, females made
up 53 percent."
Taylor said his administration also
stressed the need for more black faculty
members. Between 1972 and 1979, the
number of black instructors rose from
15 to 57, he said.
The addition of more women and
blacks further overtaxed the University's
resources, which had been stressed by a
population boom in the late 1950s un
derformer Chancellor William Aycock.
Aycock said UNC officials responded
to the increased demand for facilities by
building Odum Village for married stu
dents, and Ehringhaus and Morrison
dormitories for undergraduates in the
early 1960s.
"The biggest challenge (during my
administration) was one we knew was
coming an enormous increase in
enrollment," Aycock said. 'The feeling
was we ought to get used to it."
Aycock, who led the University from
1957 to 1964, said he focused on pro
viding the basis for further expansion
under future chancellors.
'This institution just flows into the
future," he said. "The institution does
not start or stop with the changing of
administrations."
Under Sitterson's leadership, the stu-
Alumnus Harris uses polls to predict politics
By Peter Wallsten
Editor
Public disgust with the 1992 presi
dential election shows that Americans
have lost faith in their leaders, pollster
and UNC alumnus Lou Harris told a
group of his classmates this month.
"The key to understanding what's
going on is that people have been des
perately hurting," Harris told the crowd
of 150 during his 50th class reunion on
May 9.
"People are demanding that the real
issues that shape their world be dis
cussed." The overall disillusionment in the
electoral process mirrors Americans'
growing disregard for leadership in gen
eral, Harris said.
Two out of every three citizens 66
percent of all Americans feel a sense
of powerlessness, he said.
In 1966, that figure was only 19 per
cent. "The establishment in this country
have fallen from grace," Harris said.
Everyone from Supreme Court justices
to doctors to journalists to college presi
dents to U.S. congressmen have lost
respect in the eyes of the nation, he said.
Harris attacked politicians for their
use of rhetoric and called the 1 992 presi
dential election the race between "the
candidate with little conviction and the
candidate with little character."
President Bush, who Harris said lacks
convictions, probably will win because
the questions about Clinton's character
are more meaningful to most Ameri
cans, he said.
But Bush's weaknesses make his in
cumbency vulnerable, Harris said.
"I'd state categorically that George
Bush has the weakest staff than any
other president I've seen in 40 years,"
he said.
"Believe me, I've seen some bad
Pollster: Welfare mothers want jobs
During Lou Harris' speech to
alumni, two members of the audience
asked the pollster whether Americans
were fed up with welfare and "fami
lies who produce 14 children to milk
the system."
In a rare display of emotion, Harris
shot back at the questioners with sta
tistics from the nationally renowned
Harris poll.
"People are uncomfortable with
welfare until they know the facts, and
I don't think you know the facts," he
said.
Harris said:
People on welfare now are get
ting 60 percent of what they received
10 years ago.
Of families receiving welfare, 78
percent are headed by single women,
This happens mainly because women
outlive men, he said, adding that the
ones ... Bush is a person who lacks
genuine conviction."
But Clinton's 45 percent negative
rating, which is the highest for a presi
dential candidate sinceGeorge Wallace
registered at 48 percent in 1 972, makes
a Clinton victory unlikely, Harris said.
"To win in November in a two-way
race, (Clinton) needs toget 50. 1 percent
of the vote from the 55 percent who
don'tquestionhis integrity ."Harris said.
"This comes to almost 90 percent of the
vote almost an impossibility."
The candidacies of Pat Buchanan,
David Duke and Jerry Brown indicate
the willingness of many Americans to
swing away from the mainstream in
presidential politics, Harris said.
This phenomenon adds credibility to
the independent campaign of Texas bil
lionaire H. Ross Perot, who will benefit
from the nearly all-white, middle-class
problem is much worse in the black
community. "Among blacks, women
start outliving men at 17 years old,"
Harris said.
The average welfare family has
1.2 children.
Polls indicate that the vast ma
jority of mothers on welfare want to
change their circumstances.
"The mothers' main aspirations are
to earn training and to make a living,"
Harris said.
In addition, the Han-is poll has
asked mothers receiving welfare
whether they would prefer to remain
on welfare instead of getting a job,
"and they rejected that 90 to 10 (per
cent)," Harris said, banging his fist on
the podium. "So put that in your hat
and consider it."
Peter Wallsten
20 percent of Americans who have been
voting for Buchanan and Brown, he
predicted.
If Perot is successful inTexas and the
Midwest twoofBush'sand Clinton's
strongest areas, respectively no can
didate will hold a majority in the Elec
toral College.
Harris said that the election could be
decided in the House of Representa
tives, which he said probably would be
held by the Democratic Party after up
coming elections.
Harris also predicted that the 1992
election would prompt Democrats and
Republicans to eliminate primaries in
determining their presidential candi
dates. This summer's Democratic National
Convention could make history if del
egates deny Clinton the nomination and
choose a different candidate, such as
U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J.
"The primary system is probably
coming to an end," Harris said.
"The primary system has been a di
saster." While Clinton has been running
steadily behind Bush in the polls in
recent weeks, surveys indicate Bradley
would stand a good chance of beating
Bush.
"Bradley runs as well or better (than
Clinton in the polls) and is a less contro
versial character," Harris said.
"(Bradley) runs reasonably well in
California and remarkably well in the
Midwest."
Harris also said polls have indicated
that abortion could play a key role in the
1992 election.
Clinton's only real chance of getting
elected could come from capitalizing
on the 7 1 percent of Americans who
support the pro-choice movement, Har
ris said.
If the U.S. Supreme Court decides
this year to reverse the landmark 1973
Roe vs. Wade decision, whicch legal
ized abortion, the Democrat-controlled
Congress could pass pro-choice legis
lation. Bush, who has said he opposes
abortion except in cases of rape, incest
or danger to the mother, would be ex
pected to block passage of any such
law.
"If Bush vetoes legislation, and still
is leading in the polls 55 to 45 percent,
it could do away with the Bush lead,"
Harris said.
The Harris Poll indicates that 21 per
cent of the electorate would vote against
a candidate who describes himself as
anti-abortion, while about 10 percent
would vote against a pro-choice candi
date. This 1 1 -point gap could spell victory
for pro-choice Clinton, Harris said.
dent body grew from 1 2,000 to 1 8,000,
an increase that made changes in the
UNC campus and faculty a necessity,
he said.
"You don't just expand," Sitterson
said. "You have to construct facilities.
You have to build housing and facilities
for thousands of new students. Every
year we were trying to (add) a faculty
the size of Davidson College."
Population increases in the late 1960s
resulted in the construction of Greenlaw
Hall, the Student Union, the Under
graduate Library, Student Stores and
Hamilton Hall.
Christopher 'Fordham, chancellor
from 1 980-1 988, seemed to sum up the
mood of the four men when he said the
University "belongs to everyone in
North Carolina."
But some state residents feel am
bivalent or even resentful toward the
University because of the money spent
on maintaining the UNC system,
Fordham said.
"You either feel like you belong to
the University or you don't," he said. "If
you don't, it's ABC anybody but
Carolina. -;
"This institution, if it'sgoing to main
tain its greatness, is going to have to
deal with (the public)."
The present UNC administration and
alumni should concentrate more on
working with public schools and pri
vate organizations to promote coopera
tion between the University and the
state, Fordham said.
"We must make sure the University
belongs to everyone," he said. "Admin--istrators
come and go, faculty are moj
bile, and students graduate. The alumni
are going to have to help ... financially,
morally, politically and every other way
you can think of."
The discussion, mediated by Tho
mas Lambeth, a 1957 UNC graduate
and executive director of the Z. Smith
Reynolds Foundation, was part of a
series of commencement weekend pro
grams sponsored by the General Alumni
Association.
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DTHErin Randall
Graduates did backflips, blew bubbles and drank champagne during the ceremony
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